- Date
- May 16, 2015, 09:30 local (17:30 UTC)
- Place
- Talkeetna, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N7347DPiper PA 22-150
- Defining event
- Approach-VFR pattern final: Miscellaneous/other
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 8, 2015
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 20150516021619A
- Case key
- 91204
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The private pilot's failure to maintain clearance from a spruce tree during final approach, which resulted in a loss of control and hard landing. Contributing to the accident was the flight instructor's failure to adequately monitor the landing.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The flight instructor and private pilot were practicing takeoffs and landings in a float-equipped airplane. The flight instructor stated that on the seventh approach to landing, the private pilot misjudged the airplane's rate of descent, and struck the top of a spruce tree with the right elevator resulting in a full up deflection of the elevator. The airplane entered an uncontrolled descent, and impacted the water in a flat stalled condition sustaining substantial damage to the fuselage and elevator. The flight instructor stated that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The flight instructor and private pilot were practicing takeoffs and landings in a float-equipped airplane. The flight instructor stated that on the seventh approach to landing, the private pilot misjudged the airplane's rate of descent, and struck the top of a spruce tree with the right elevator resulting in a full up deflection of the elevator. The airplane entered an uncontrolled descent, and impacted the water in a flat stalled condition sustaining substantial damage to the fuselage and elevator. The flight instructor stated that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. In the recommendation section of the NTSB Accident/Incident Reporting Form 6120.1, the flight instructor stated that having personally flown with the pilot he had developed a sense of complacency, and the accident may have been avoided if he had been more vigilant, or conducted a more thorough preflight briefing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7347D
- Reported as
- Piper PA 22-150 (160)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 22-5138
- Built
- 1957
- Airframe hours
- 3,281.7
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320 SERIES, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Roger Anderson
- Registered owner
- Christianson Lake Rentals & Maintenance
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 15, 2015
- Departed
- Talkeetna, AK
- Destination
- Talkeetna, AK
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Flight instructor
- Age
- 60
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Private, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- March 5, 2015
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 2,400 total · 260 in this make and model · 2,340 as pilot in command · 48 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 55
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- September 24, 2013
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 488 total · 11 in this make and model · 415 as pilot in command · 8 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 52 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.12 inHg
- Observed at
- PATK, 14 nm away
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 22, 2015, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.8 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.